Territory



(No Model) T. G. BARLOW-MASSICKS.

AMALGAMATOR. No. 565,152. Patented Aug. 4, 1896.

y wmf lUNITED STATES PATENT iifrricn,

THOMAS BARLOlV-IIASSICKS, 0F PRESCOTT, ARIZONA TERRITGRY.

A'IVIALGANIATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,152, dated August 4, 1896. Application led February l, 1896. Serial No. 577,652. (No model.)

T 0 all whom, t may concern.:

Be it known that I, THOMAS G. BARLow- Mnssics, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Prescott, in the county of Yavapai and Territory of Arizona, have invented an Improvement in Amalgamators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates especially to the ritlle-plates and troughs containing mercury, and with which the gold is amalgamated as it is caught in the rittles or troughs while being carried down over the ritlie-plates with the earthy materials by a stream of water.

The special feature ot' the present invention relates to an inclined plate of iron or steel, having anges or sides and cross-ribs 'forming receptacles for holding the mercury, and these plates are provided with lugs and rings for convenience of handling, and they are combined with troughs having substantially flat bottoms and contracted at the upper part, the side of the trough to which the upper end ot' the riffle-plate is connected being inclined, so as to prevent the rush of water displacing the mercury and carrying the same out ot' the trough, and the lower end of one ritile-plate is connected with the trough above the upper end of the riffle-plate next below, there being openings for the passage of the water and earthy materials as the direction of flow is changed in passing from a plate inclined in one direction into the trough and upon the surface of the next lower plate inclined in the other direct-ion. By this arrangement and construction the amalgamator is rendered very compact and can be easily taken apart for removing the gold amalgam from the troughs and riffles.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section illustrating the present improvement, and Fig. 2 is a plan view at one corner of the trough to illustrate the manner in which the plates and troughs are bolted together.

The troughs A are made with substantially fiat bottoms 1 and vertical sides 2 and inclined sides 3, and the ends of the troughs are closed, and in consequence of the side 3 of each trough being inclined, the space between its upper edge and the side 2 of the trough is much less than the width of the bottom, the object being to prevent the quick silver in the bottom of the trough being washed out by the force of water and earthy material liowing from one ril'tie-plate into the trough and rising and flowing away upon the next 'rinde-plate below.

Each little-plate is made with side lian ges C and a bottom B, and in the surface of the bottom there are ribs or rifles l, which are preferably dat upon the upper surfaces, and the channels between the ribs are angular and the sides of the ribs or rifli es are advantageously at an acute angle to the bottoni ot' the rime-plate, so that the mercury introduced into the groove or channel will not be washed out by the Water ilowing down the surface of the ri file-plate, and there are projecting lugs 5 and 6 upon the trough through which lugs bolts pass for connecting the lower end of the upper rifle-plate to the liange 5, and the upper end of the next lower rit'tle-plate to the J'iange 6.

By providing any desired number of troughs and little-plates, the amalgamator can be constructed by putting these troughs and rilieplates together so that the little-plates are inclined in opposite directions, as shown in the drawings, and they are firmly connected together by the bolts and flanges 5 and U, and all the rifIle-plates are alike and all the troughs are alike, and it is only necessary to provide a suitable framework or support for the respective troughs, and after the .amalgamator has been properly charged with the quicksilver and operated in the usual manner by causing the auriferous material in a tine] y-pulverized condition to tiow by the current of water from the top end of the apparatus over the inclines to the bottom end of suoli apparatus, the gold will be retained and absorbed by the mercury, and whenever it becomes necessary, the parts of the amalgamator are easily separated by removing the bolts through the flanges 5 and 6 and plates and lifting out the respective rill'le-plates by the rings or si milar devices through the lugs E.

The amalgam can be easily removed from the plates and also from the troughs, and the apparatus can be set together and put in operation as before.

The rit'des i may either be separate or integral with the plates B and of any suitable material.

The tlanged edges of the riiiie-plates coin- TCO riiiie-plate having riles on its upper surface,

and edge Han ges an d flanges at its outer edges for bolts, and each trough having a iiat bottom, a vertical side and an inwardly-inclined side to come below the upper end of a rifleplate, ends to the trough and outwardly-projecting flanges for the attaching-bolts, the parts being constructed so that the upper end of the lower riile-plate is connected directly to the edge of the trough and the lower end of the rifle-plate is supported directly above with an intermediate space for the flow of the water, substantially as specified.

Signed by me this 14th day of December,

'FI-IOS. G. BARLOW-MASSICKS. lVitnesses:

C. E. GUNNisoN, T. W. JOHNSTON. 

